The majority of the 5 million people who arrive at Emergency Departments (ED) with a headache every year are suffering from an acute exacerbation of a chronic, recurrent headache disorder. The role of the ED in treating these patients has been ill-defined. Often emergency physicians will treat the acute exacerbation and will not attend to the natural history of the disease. However, about two thirds of primary headache patients will suffer a recurrent headache in the 24 hours after discharge from the ED. And, many patients will continue to suffer recurrent headaches for months after their ED discharge.